Medical First: Chinese Doctors Temporarily Attach Severed Ear to Patient’s Foot

In an unprecedented medical procedure, doctors at Shandong Provincial Hospital in China successfully saved a patient’s severed ear by temporarily grafting it to her foot before reattaching it to her head months later.

The Groundbreaking Procedure

A patient identified only by the surname Sun suffered a catastrophic workplace accident involving heavy machinery that tore off a large portion of her scalp and completely severed her ear. The extensive damage to her scalp and vascular network made immediate reattachment impossible.

Faced with this challenge, the surgical team led by Qiu Shenqiang, deputy director of the hospital’s microsurgery unit, made a revolutionary decision: they would preserve the ear by attaching it to the patient’s foot temporarily while her head healed.

Why the Foot?

The medical team selected the foot for this heterotopic graft because:

• The arteries and veins in the foot are compatible with those in the ear
• The skin and soft tissue of the foot have similar thinness to those of the head
• The location would allow proper blood flow while the patient’s skull healed

Challenges and Complications

The initial grafting procedure took ten hours of meticulous work connecting the ear’s delicate veins to the foot’s vascular system. However, five days after the surgery, the team faced a serious complication when the ear turned purplish-black due to blood pooling, as the veins struggled to return blood to the heart.

To save the ear, the surgical team performed an intensive manual bloodletting process that required nearly 500 individual interventions over five days.

Successful Outcome

After five months of healing and gradual restoration of the patient’s scalp, doctors were finally able to reattach the ear to its proper position. The procedure was completed in October, and the patient has since been discharged from the hospital with largely recovered facial and tissue function.

This case represents the first documented instance of an ear being temporarily attached to a foot as a preservation method, marking a significant advancement in reconstructive surgical techniques.